The Divine Comedy ~ English Edition, translated by H.F. Cary - Inferno

Canto VII
English Edition, translated by H.F. Cary

Circle Four
Circle Five

The Hoarders and the Wasters
The Wrathful and the Sullen

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1	AH me! O Satan! Satan! loud exclaim'd
2	Plutus, in accent hoarse of wild alarm:
3	And the kind sage, whom no event surpris'd,

4	To comfort me thus spake: Let not thy fear
5	Harm thee, for power in him, be sure, is none
6	To hinder down this rock thy safe descent.

7	Then to that sworn lip turning, Peace! he cried,
8	Curs'd wolf! thy fury inward on thyself
9	Prey, and consume thee! Through the dark profound

10	Not without cause he passes. So 't is will'd
11	On high, there where the great Archangel pour'd
12	Heav'n's vengeance on the first adulterer proud.

13	As sails full spread and bellying with the wind
14	Drop suddenly collaps'd, if the mast split;
15	So to the ground down dropp'd the cruel fiend.

16	Thus we, descending to the fourth steep ledge,
17	Gain'd on the dismal shore, that all the woe
18	Hems in of all the universe. Ah me!

19	Almighty Justice! in what store thou heap'st
20	New pains, new troubles, as I here beheld!
21	Wherefore doth fault of ours bring us to this?

22	E'en as a billow, on Charybdis rising,
23	Against encounter'd billow dashing breaks;
24	Such is the dance this wretched race must lead,

25	Whom more than elsewhere numerous here I found,
26	From one side and the other, with loud voice,
27	Both roll'd on weights by main forge of their breasts,

28	Then smote together, and each one forthwith
29	Roll'd them back voluble, turning again,
30	Exclaiming these, Why holdest thou so fast?

31	Those answering, And why castest thou away?
32	So still repeating their despiteful song,
33	They to the opposite point on either hand

34	Travers'd the horrid circle: then arriv'd,
35	Both turn'd them round, and through the middle space
36	Conflicting met again. At sight whereof

37	I, stung with grief, thus spake: O say, my guide!
38	What race is this? Were these, whose heads are shorn,
39	On our left hand, all sep'rate to the church?

40	He straight replied: In their first life these all
41	In mind were so distorted, that they made,
42	According to due measure, of their wealth,

43	No use. This clearly from their words collect,
44	Which they howl forth, at each extremity
45	Arriving of the circle, where their crime

46	Contrary' in kind disparts them. To the church
47	Were separate those, that with no hairy cowls
48	Are crown'd, both Popes and Cardinals, o'er whom

49	Av'rice dominion absolute maintains.
50	I then: Mid such as these some needs must be,
51	Whom I shall recognize, that with the blot

52	Of these foul sins were stain'd. He answering thus:
53	Vain thought conceiv'st thou. That ignoble life,
54	Which made them vile before, now makes them dark,

55	And to all knowledge indiscernible.
56	Forever they shall meet in this rude shock:
57	These from the tomb with clenched grasp shall rise,

58	Those with close-shaven locks. That ill they gave,
59	And ill they kept, hath of the beauteous world
60	Depriv'd, and set them at this strife, which needs

61	No labour'd phrase of mine to set if off.
62	Now may'st thou see, my son! how brief, how vain,
63	The goods committed into fortune's hands,

64	For which the human race keep such a coil!
65	Not all the gold, that is beneath the moon,
66	Or ever hath been, of these toil-worn souls

67	Might purchase rest for one. I thus rejoin'd:
68	My guide! of thee this also would I learn;
69	This fortune, that thou speak'st of, what it is,

70	Whose talons grasp the blessings of the world?
71	He thus: O beings blind! what ignorance
72	Besets you? Now my judgment hear and mark.

73	He, whose transcendent wisdom passes all,
74	The heavens creating, gave them ruling powers
75	To guide them, so that each part shines to each,

76	Their light in equal distribution pour'd.
77	By similar appointment he ordain'd
78	Over the world's bright images to rule.

79	Superintendence of a guiding hand
80	And general minister, which at due time
81	May change the empty vantages of life

82	From race to race, from one to other's blood,
83	Beyond prevention of man's wisest care:
84	Wherefore one nation rises into sway,

85	Another languishes, e'en as her will
86	Decrees, from us conceal'd, as in the grass
87	The serpent train. Against her nought avails

88	Your utmost wisdom. She with foresight plans,
89	Judges, and carries on her reign, as theirs
90	The other powers divine. Her changes know

91	Nore intermission: by necessity
92	She is made swift, so frequent come who claim
93	Succession in her favours. This is she,

94	So execrated e'en by those, whose debt
95	To her is rather praise; they wrongfully
96	With blame requite her, and with evil word;

97	But she is blessed, and for that recks not:
98	Amidst the other primal beings glad
99	Rolls on her sphere, and in her bliss exults.

100	Now on our way pass we, to heavier woe
101	Descending: for each star is falling now,
102	That mounted at our entrance, and forbids

103	Too long our tarrying. We the circle cross'd
104	To the next steep, arriving at a well,
105	That boiling pours itself down to a foss

106	Sluic'd from its source. Far murkier was the wave
107	Than sablest grain: and we in company
108	Of the' inky waters, journeying by their side,

109	Enter'd, though by a different track, beneath.
110	Into a lake, the Stygian nam'd, expands
111	The dismal stream, when it hath reach'd the foot

112	Of the grey wither'd cliffs. Intent I stood
113	To gaze, and in the marish sunk descried
114	A miry tribe, all naked, and with looks

115	Betok'ning rage. They with their hands alone
116	Struck not, but with the head, the breast, the feet,
117	Cutting each other piecemeal with their fangs.

118	The good instructor spake; Now seest thou, son!
119	The souls of those, whom anger overcame.
120	This too for certain know, that underneath

121	The water dwells a multitude, whose sighs
122	Into these bubbles make the surface heave,
123	As thine eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turn.

124	Fix'd in the slime they say: Sad once were we
125	In the sweet air made gladsome by the sun,
126	Carrying a foul and lazy mist within:

127	Now in these murky settlings are we sad.
128	Such dolorous strain they gurgle in their throats.
129	But word distinct can utter none. Our route

130	Thus compass'd we, a segment widely stretch'd
131	Between the dry embankment, and the core
132	Of the loath'd pool, turning meanwhile our eyes

133	Downward on those who gulp'd its muddy lees;
134	Nor stopp'd, till to a tower's low base we came.

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